Classic and Contemporary Poetry
KORNER AND HIS SISTER, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Green wave the oak for ever o'er thy rest Last Line: Lyre, sword, and flower, farewell! Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea Variant Title(s): The Grave Of Korner Subject(s): Graves; Grief; Korner, Karl Theodor (1791-1813); Sisters; Women; Tombs; Tombstones; Sorrow; Sadness | ||||||||
GREEN wave the oak forever o'er thy rest, Thou that beneath its crowning foliage sleepest, And, in the stillness of thy country's breast, Thy place of memory as an altar keepest; Brightly thy spirit o'er her hills were poured, Thou of the Lyre and Sword! Rest, bard! rest, soldier! By the father's hand Here shall the child of after years be led, With his wreath-offering silently to stand In the hushed presence of the glorious dead -- Soldier and bard! for thou thy path hast trod With freedom and with God. The oak waved proudly o'er thy burial rite, On thy crowned bier to slumber warriors bore thee, And with true hearts thy brethren of the fight Wept as they veiled their drooping banners o'er thee; And the deep guns with rolling peal gave token That Lyre and Sword were broken. Thou hast a hero's tomb: a lowlier bed Is hers, the gentle girl beside thee lying -- The gentle girl that bowed her fair young head When thou wert gone, in silent sorrow dying. Brother, true friend! the tender and the brave! -- She pined to share thy grave. Fame was thy gift from others; -- but for her, To whom the wide world held that only spot, She loved thee! -- lovely in your lives ye were, And in your early deaths divided not. Thou hast thine oak, thy trophy, -- what hath she? Her own blessed place by thee! It was thy spirit, brother! which had made The bright earth glorious to her youthful eye, Since first in childhood midst the vines ye played, And sent glad singing through the free blue sky. Ye were but two -- and when the spirit passed, Woe to the one, the last! Woe, yet not long! She lingered but to trace Thine image from the image of her breast -- Once, once again to see that buried face But smile upon her, ere she went to rest. Too sad a smile! its living light was o'er -- It answered hers no more. The earth grew silent when thy voice departed, The home too lonely whence thy step had fled; What then was left for her the faithful-hearted? Death, death, to still the yearning for the dead! Softly she perished: be the flower deplored Here with the Lyre and the Sword! Have ye not met ere now! -- so let those trust That meet for moments but to part for years -- That weep, watch, pray, to hold back dust from dust -- That love, where love is but a fount of tears. Brother! sweet sister! peace around ye dwell: Lyre, Sword, and Flower, farewell! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONOMA FIRE by JANE HIRSHFIELD AS THE SPARKS FLY UPWARDS by JOHN HOLLANDER WHAT GREAT GRIEF HAS MADE THE EMPRESS MUTE by JUNE JORDAN CHAMBER MUSIC: 19 by JAMES JOYCE DIRGE AT THE END OF THE WOODS by LEONIE ADAMS A DIRGE (1) by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS |
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